Old ascension monastery in Pskov

The Old Cathedral of the Ascension is one of the most ancient temples of Pskov in the XVI

The exact time of the monastery Foundation is unknown, but already in the first mention of the name there is "Old". Until the XV century the monastery was situated outside the city and suburbs. In 1465 built a wooden wall around Polonia (near Pskov) and the monastery was in an urban area.

Pearl of the monastery – the Cathedral of the ascension (another name - the Old Ascension) was built of local limestone slabs on the site of a previous wooden Cathedral. Modern studies of VL.In.Sedov on the basis of analysis of available documents and architectural forms and their evolution in the architecture of religious buildings, now extant Old stone Church-the Rapture refers to the second half 1530-1540-ies.

"In 1467, the old Church was replaced with a new one, which, however, in the next century was broken and rebuilt".

Yu. P. Spegalsky

It is a four-column apses of the temple with elevated supporting arches carrying a light drum. The inner space of the indoor type. The quadrangle is surrounded with South and North aisles, and West porch, over which is preserved the base of a two-span belfry.

Mandatory membership in churches of Pskov in the XV-XVI century was a small two-span belfry, erected on the West wall of the porch:

1650 there was arranged Znamensky nunnery, then reformed in the men's ascension, then the ascension of women. For a long time the monastery was in a state of distress. In the early nineteenth century gradually began to resume. The means of Pskov philanthropists in 1833 was built the Church of the Nativity of the virgin in the Empire style with a Central head and 4 cupolas at the corners of the roof. Today is not restored:

In 1848, built the Church of our lady of Tikhvin. In 1836 – 1839 by donations, was erected a stone fence, and in 1838 a stone chapel. New stone bell tower appeared in 1854, this time over the construction of cells, the device of the monastery orchard. All this happened through the efforts of the most famous abbess of the Old ascension monastery abbess Agnes II. (buried in the porch of the ancient temple of the monastery – the Cathedral of the ascension. )

After the revolution the monastery was abolished and destroyed, the monastery housed the service of the OGPU, NKVD, and later the police.

Currently, the ancient Cathedral of the assumption – the current parish Church. In the Church of the Nativity since 1972, located under the planetarium, and the tower Observatory.